[Anticoagulant therapy at four hospitals in Ostergötland--quality control using a shared computer program].

Anticoagulation therapy in four hospital anticoagulation clinics in the Swedish county of Ostergötland was evaluated using statistical functions in a software package for patient management used by all four clinics. During the period 1998-2000 the degree of therapeutic control of anticoagulation differed between the four hospitals. However the overall quality of therapeutic control tended to be better than that reported from routine treatment at other centers and comparable to that found in randomized controlled trials of anticoagulation treatment of atrial fibrillation. The recorded frequency of complications was low but probably represents an underestimate, as there was no systematic follow-up of each patient at any of the hospitals. In the future, quality control of clinical follow-up of anticoagulation treatment must be improved. There is also a need for more user-friendly and flexible software packages.